• vt. 投合，迎合；满足需要；提供饮食及服务
• n. (Cater)人名；(英)凯特

词源同catch, 指抓，拿，购买。后词义指招待，承办宴席。

cater

cater: [16] Cater is related to French acheter ‘buy’, and originally meant ‘buy provisions’. It comes ultimately from Vulgar Latin *accaptāre, a compound verb formed from the Latin prefix ad- ‘to’ and the verb captāre ‘try to seize’ (source of English catch and chase). This provided the basis for the Anglo-Norman agent noun acatour ‘buyer, purveyor’, which gave English the now obsolete acater.

Losing its a-, this became cater, which until the early 17th century was the word for what we would now call a ‘caterer’. At around the same time cater began to be used as a verb; the first known example of this is in Shakespeare’s As You Like It II, iii: ‘He that doth the ravens feed, yea providently caters for the sparrow’.
=> capture, catch, chase

cater (v.)

"provide food for," c. 1600, from Middle English catour (n.) "buyer of provisions" (c. 1400; late 13c. as a surname), a shortening of Anglo-French achatour "buyer" (Old North French acatour, Old French achatour, 13c., Modern French acheteur), from Old French achater "to buy," originally "to buy provisions," perhaps from Vulgar Latin *accaptare, from Latin ad- "to" + captare "to take, hold," frequentative of capere "to take" (see capable).

Or else from Vulgar Latin *accapitare "to add to one's capital," with second element from verbal stem of Latin caput (genitive capitis); see capital (adj.). Figuratively from 1650s. Related: Catered; catering.

1. The chef is pleased to cater for vegetarian diets.

厨师非常乐意为客人做素食。

来自柯林斯例句

2. Nunsmere Hall can cater for receptions of up to 300 people.

纳恩斯米尔酒店最多可以同时接待300人。

来自柯林斯例句

3. They maintain a database of hotels that cater for businesswomen.

他们维护着一个服务于商界女性的酒店资料库。

来自柯林斯例句

4. Does the school cater for all abilities?

学校能够做到因材施教吗？

来自柯林斯例句

5. Does he cater parties too?

他也承办派对的饮食吗？

来自柯林斯例句